A Blog for the Creative Advertising Community in Brisbane

Child Abuse Billboard Contains ‘Secret Message’ Not Visible to Adults

To try and do more than simply raise awareness of child abuse, the international nonprofit Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk (ANAR) recently joined forces with the ad agency Grey Group Spain to create a public service announcement that both draws attention to the problem, and may actually make a difference.

Using a technology known as lenticular printing, Grey Group designed an ad that contains a “secret message” that is only visible from the POV of children (~4’4″).

To adults, the billboard will contain the simple, yet powerful message, “Sometimes child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it.”

However, children will instead see the far more useful instruction, “If somebody hurts you, phone us and we’ll help you,” along with the foundation’s phone number.

The image on the poster will also change: While adults will see a normal looking boy, children will instead see a bruised-up child with whom they might identify.

As some have noted, though clever, the poster’s concept could be lost on abused children who are unaware that their aggressors are seeing a different sign.